Christmas Gifts
by DanniCoeur
Summary: Rick's christmas' gift hadn't arrived just yet...


It's December 25th, around 4 am. Castle had invited Beckett and Jim to spend their Christmas with the Castle's, knowing that this was a hard time of the year for them. He figured they could use a little family warmth, even though they weren't exactly a family. Yet.

Alexis was already asleep, which had been a little hard since she opened up her present – the keys to her new scooter. Her father was, indeed, the best. Everyone had given her either scarves or books, things they know she loved, and she was grateful for that.

Martha and Jim said goodnight and went to their rooms too, after opening up their presents. Castle got her a beautiful turquoise dress she had been craving for, and for Jim a nice coat that Beckett told him once he wanted – the man was surprised by the gift, because he knew it was too expensive, but didn't complain. On the other hand, Beckett had given her father a new watch – the one he had was broken, and for Martha she decided to give her a Spa Voucher – nothing too expensive, but just good enough.

On the living room, still drinking wine and talking, were Rick and Kate. That night, they were not Castle and Beckett, the writer and the detective. Rick had made it clear that he didn't want her to boss him around during the night, nor he wanted her to talk about any cases or murders. She told him that even though the Christmas Eve was hard for her, she always let her softer side make an appearance.

Sitting on the couch, facing each other, Rick and Kate looked like two teenagers who had just met, and were too excited for having so many things in common. They told each other stories about past Christmas' while finishing the bottle of wine. Rick had noticed that Kate was, in fact, softer – she gave him at least a hundred smiles during the night. He had gotten her the latest Nikki Heat manuscript – the one he already sent to Gina and she approved – and Kate told him she ordered something but, even though she had ordered it a long time ago, it hadn't arrived yet. He was a little upset for not having a gift from her, but he was just too curious what it could be that would take that long to arrive.

"Your presence here is the best gift I could have, Kate. Really, thank you for coming tonight."

"It was my pleasure Rick. I haven't had this much fun on Christmas for a while. And my dad, did you see his face?"

"Yeah, he was just so happy. I'm glad he loved my gift. Thank you for the heads up."

"It wasn't a heads up; you didn't have to buy it, Castle."

"You know I have a big and soft heart."

"Indeed, you do Mr. Castle."

They stared at each other with a smile on their faces – they truly were happy. That had been a wonderful night. Rick glanced at the clock and noticed it was already 4.30 am.

"Oh, geez, it's late. We should go to sleep, don't want you to feel sleepy during my amazing Christmas brunch."

"Ahah, yeah it is late. But… You know what? Just wait here."

Kate got up from the couch and quickly went to his office, grabbed her bag and took something out. Castle's head followed her, and when he noticed a little brown box on her hands he arched one eye brow.

"What's that?"

"Hm… It's just…" Kate smiled while holding the little box on her hands "It's just a little something I got you. I didn't know what else to buy you, so I brought you this."

"What about the whole 'it hasn't arrived yet' thing?"

"I lied." She smiled at him, hoping he could forgive her later.

"Oh Detective, I hope you don't do that often, because I totally believed in you. You are a very good liar, Kate."

"Only when I need to." Castle shot her a very confused look, but she just sat on the couch again, this time an inch closer to him.

"Before I give you this… I want to tell you that… hm… You should be very careful with it, for it not to break."

"Geez woman, you're giving me a piece of glass as a Christmas gift? Thank you Kate." They both laughed at his silliness, but he still had his intrigued face on. So Kate just placed the little box on his lap and waited for him to open it.

Rick picked it up, looking surprised at her. It made a weird sound, like chains or something like that, and he was dying of curiosity.

"Open it." She bit her lip, smiling at him. He noticed she was blushing, and the more he tried to connect the dots the less he understood of the situation.

"Told you not to boss me around during Christmas." There he was, about to open the weird present she got to him, feeling the awkwardness and the tension between them, but still making jokes. He put the gift back on his lap and turned his head to her.

"Why didn't you give me this earlier?"

"I didn't want them to see it."

"Are you embarrassed of giving me a Christmas present?"

"No… Not at all, Castle. Just… Open it. Please?" She gave him that shy smile he rarely saw, and gave up to curiosity. He took the cute bordeaux bow off, and opened the box, finally. It had a key and a tiny red glass heart next to it. She laughed at his confused face, the one he always made when he didn't really understand someone's point of view.

"I guess I should say thank you, but I don't understand."

"Rick… These past four years have been great. You know that, right?"

"Yes, I do. They have been amazing."

"True. You have been an almost perfect partner – you know it's true, don't look at me like that. You'd be the perfect one if you helped me with paperwork." Castle frowned and nodded, as if telling her she was right.

"And I know that, in the beginning, I was no fun to be around. And you were too much fun, god damn it you completely annoyed me from day one. You were so immature; such a playboy that thought he knew it all… Ugh."

"So your present comes with a speech of how much you dislike me being at the precinct?"

"Let me finish. Even though, even though I thought you were nothing more than that, over the years I've learned that… that you're so much more than that public persona that everyone thinks you are. I've come to know that soft heart of yours, and… and I want to thank you for being there for me whenever I needed it. I know that sometimes I didn't react the way I should have. I'm glad that you were there, Rick… You… You have made things a little bit easier and fun."

Rick didn't know where she was going with that speech, but somehow he felt he was going to like it.

"I… I've grown accustomed to your presence. I've learned to accept you, your theories and all your silliness… And I've come to… kind of… grown accustomed to it. I'm glad to have you at the precinct. I'm… I'm glad that you came into my life."

"I'm glad that you came into mine, Kate. But I still don't get it…"

"Rick… I have to tell you something. And you have to promise me, really promise me, that you won't be mad at me, even though you should. I'm going to tell you something, and I want to let me finish what I'm saying before you say anything, you take a moment to think, you do whatever you want, but talk immediately. Ok? Promise me?"

"Pinky promise, Kate." He was stunned – what the hell was she going to tell him?

"I remember everything, Rick. About Montgomery's funeral. I heard what you said, before I passed out. I've been… too afraid to touch this before. I had no idea how to tell you that I lied to you, and I want you to know that I'm ashamed that I did, but it was my best option at that time. Things were just too confusing, between Josh and recovery and…. You know." Castle gazed at her eyes, she could see the hurt on his face. She knew it would hurt him, but she had to lift this weight off her shoulders – her therapist told her she would never be able to feel good about herself if she didn't.

"So this is my way of apologizing. This is my way of saying I'm sorry I lied to you and I hope that you can forgive me. Now about the gift. That key in the box… It's the key to my place. I want you to have it, in case something happens. Just so that you don't have to break my beautiful door. And… That heart… In there… It's mine. It's my heart. I want you to take it. It's yours to have and to hold. I… I love you, Rick. And that's all I wanted to tell you."

Kate shut up, biting her lip and feeling herself blushing. Her gaze dropped from his eyes to the floor, feeling embarrassed by the amount of confessions she had just made to the man she loved. He was blown away by her speech, and unable to say a word back. She had that smile on her face, the one he saw for the first time when she cut his handcuffs back on the bank, after the explosion. Thoughts were running through his head a million miles per minute, he didn't know where to begin.

"You… You what?"

"You really need me to repeat it, Castle?"

"No. I'm just… Overwhelmed. How… How could you lie to me, Kate? I mean, it's not like I didn't suspect that you lied, because trust me, I did – you are not that good of a liar. But it just… it hurts that… that you knew how I felt and waited… It took you all this time. And the summer? The three months without calling? You heard that I loved you…"

"I told you, I had too many things in my mind. I had to focus on my recovery, Rick. I couldn't… I couldn't be distracted."

"I would've gladly helped you recover Kate, if you had ever given me the chance."

"I know that… But it was something I needed to do alone. I hope you understand…" She lowered her stare back to the floor – this shame was something she wasn't used to.

"I… I do. Could you just… Repeat the part about the heart? I don't think I fully understand."

"It was just a silly meaningless thing, Rick. It was supposed to be just a piece of paper, but I found it at a store on my street and I thought it was cute." He arched his brow again, and smirked.

" Damn it Castle. I love you. I. Love. You." Kate looked him straight in the eyes as she said that – so he knew that she meant it. Castle got up from the couch, holding the tiny glass heart on his left hand and told her to follow him.

"Where… Why are we going to your office?" Now she was the one confused.

"We're not." He stopped right under the doorway and grabbed her hand, pushing her to him. He looked up, and she followed – she hadn't noticed the little mistletoe there before.

"Oh… I see. Did you put it there on purpose?"

"I may have thought about it, but it wasn't me who did it." They were holding hands and she could feel the cold glass in the middle. Rick pushed her against his body, letting go of her hands just to place his hands on her waist, while she put hers around his neck. She was holding the heart, playing with it. They were looking at each other, smiling, but none of them had made a move yet. She wondered what was he waiting for? Was he expecting her to kiss him? Because she would, if he didn't.

"So, are you going to kiss me, or what?"

"My dear detective, I thought you'd never ask."


End file.
